Wolf Bait (Perry and Jonas)

Christmas dinner is very formal and as I stand in front of my floor–length mirror in the baby blue dress that was brought up for me, I can’t help but laugh at the turn my life has taken. This year has been insane. My heels echo against the carpet as I make my way over to my room which will belong to Natalie for the night. Her eyes light up when she sees me and she runs up to me spinning around to show me we’re wearing the same colors.

“You look amazing.” I crouch down and give her an extra twirl.

-Jordan said I’m not allowed to stay with him and Tulip while we’re here-

“Yeah, but we can all still hang out, 1 cup her little face. She hugs my arm and nods, James and Valentina are here with her.

He’s staying upstairs, but since he’s technically her guardian now, he’s been going where she goes. When I straightened up. she skips over to him to take the little monster doll from him.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Waiting on the King.” I sit at the edge of the bed,

I look down at the spot where I was held down and marked as a slave. The very same place where I broke free and marked up the King’s face. That memory doesn’t feel real to me. Yet, I think about it often. Even dream about it.

One of the accessories falls from Natalie’s toy and rolls under the bed. I slide off the bed to get it for her. When I reach for it. I find one of the boxes I brought with me when I first moved here. I hand Natalie the toy and reach for the box

-What’s that?– she asks when I set it on the bed,

“Dunno,” I say and help her up to sit with me.

Using my thumb’s claw I cut the seals around the box and open it. It’s full of old pictures. I reach inside to get a handful of them. Natalie does the same. She holds up one of my favorite pictures of Darren and me and points at him.

“That’s Darren. He was mate before I married the King.” I tell her. She looks down at him and signs.

-Like Hunter?–

“Exactly,” I nod going through them all.

He printed every picture we ever took together and not just after we found out we were mates, but pictures of us as kids as well. I didn’t know I had this or that it existed at all,

“What’s this?” I look up at the King as he lifts Natalie onto his lap

-Mate.- she tells him.

“Look at that, tiny Perry,” he laughs taking some of the pictures from her. “Your hair was so long

“My mom’s hair was long,” I say reaching for one of Mackenzie and me with my mom. She couldn’t be older than three. “I grew it out because I wanted to look just like her,”

-Me too. I want long hair- Natalie signs quickly.

“It’ll take forever for it to grow,” I warn her.

-Worth it-

“Wow, you were so small when you two met, the King holds up the last picture in the box.

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It’s the picture my mom took of all of us. My mom and Darren’s parents are standing behind us in the mirror of our building’s lobby, Mrs. Phurry is holding a baby Mackenzie in her arms. Morgan and I are both squeezing Darren’s chubby cheeks teasingly. We had been competing to see who could carry the most boxes up to their apartment and Morgan won because the two of us couldn’t stop play lighting. He was so bitter. Everyone is smiling.

“We should go James says.

I set the pictures back inside the box. Natalie sets the picture in Her hand on top and it’s a picture of me standing on the balcony of the apartment we had just before the house Darren had made for us was finished.

I’m wearing shorts with a hoodie. I’m not wearing any shoes. I’m leaning over the balcony not paying attention to him. I was already pregnant here, but I didn’t know. I remember that day early. We had gotten into an argument because of Knightly.

I had just introduced him to Hailey and I had been on the phone with him for a little over an hour trying to convince him that it would be the loophole he had been looking for. He wouldn’t have to be alpha and his father would never be in a position where he would be able to challenge the King novelbin

Darren thought that it was ridiculous for me to get involved in any way. I was upset because Knight had been my mentor. He taught me alpha–level strategies that helped me in my beta training. I told him that it was none of his business what I chose to help my friends with. He said these people weren’t our friends. They’re the enemies and I was delusional if I considered them anything more than that.

I was mad and I didn’t want to leave the apartment like that. I’d end up fighting or worse. So, I grabbed a bottle of water and got some fresh air. I was watching the pups below play. One of them got hit in the back of the head with a soccer ball by one of the older kids and I laughed. That’s the only reason I’m smiling.

Lift the picture and turn it over because he often wrote the dates on the back. The words I’m sorry are scribbled in his chicken scratch along with the date. It was two days before his birthday. I drop it back into the box and shut it.

“You okay?” the King asks. I nod and help Natalie off the bed so we can head down.

face. I never once considered what we had toxic. It was just a different life. I love that idiot. I can’t help the smile on my Some of my favorite parts about him were his competitiveness and the way he snapped. He treated me as an equal. He didn’t want to give me the world he wanted to sit there and watch me take it.

Coming to terms with all of this has been really hard. I doubt I’m ever going to get over it. Darren Phurry and our family will always be a part of me. My hand instinctively reaches for my ring as the elevator pings when we reach the lobby.

James lifts Natalie and walks out. The King reaches for my hand and I look up at him so he can see that I’m not upset. “On a scale from one to holy shit, this is insane. What should I expect?” I ask.

The full holy shit this is insane,” he grins. Oz comes over with a couple of jewelry boxes. Big ones. “Also, this is a formal event so you have to look the part,”

“Will it be live?”

“No, we have a team of photographers. They don’t release anything to the press. Their work is sacred to them.”

“Sweet,

“My lady,” Oz curtsies. We both laugh as we’re escorted over to the sitting area.

The jewelry boxes are all opened and placed on the coffee table in front of us. My eyes wander the spectacular display here. The walls have icicle lights that are draped over the winter wonderland decor. Now I know why my dress is blue.

“Is that okay with you?” the King asks. 1 didn’t catch what he said to I just nod.

The girls in front of me both beam and start taking things off the table. Jewelry is brought over to me. An insane necklace is

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put around my neck. My earrings are replaced. But I pull away when someone tries to take my cuff.

“He stays,” I warn them.

They continue to assault me and then stop when it’s Oz’s turn. She comes over to me with a big black box.

“Try not to think about it, gorgeous. You’ll find that it fits. That it always has,” she smirks and opens the box. A very unladylike snort comes out of me when she reveals the white gold crown adorned with sapphires sitting inside.

“I wear that?” I whisper to her and then look over at the King.

“Yes,” he grins.

“It’s why I had your hair put up.” Oz adds.

“Let me, the King stands.

The way everyone’s eyes light up as he stands to take the crown out of the box is a little unnerving. He turns it around and comes over to me. Oz tilts my forward. He takes a knee in front of me and gently settles it on my head. He moves a couple of strands of my hair until he is satisfied and then leans back to get a better look at it. He tilts my head up so I can look him in the eyes. This thing is heavy. It’ll be all I can think about as I’m paraded around tonight.

“Say something stupid,” I whisper. He laughs and leans in to give me a quick peck.

“Darren would be proud to see that you did it,” he smirks.

“Did what?”

“Conquer the fucking world, Perry,” He stands offering me his hand. “At twenty–four, I might add,”